Receiver



Patented May 26, 1942 UNITED" STATES Plr1i3NT OFFICE RECEIVER Hugo G. Moslima, Chicago, Ill., assigner to Otarion, Inc., Illinois Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Application April 4, 1940, serial No.I 327,788

(ci. 11a-107i 9 Claims.

The present invention relates to hearing aids and more particularly to receivers or ear pieces for hearing aids.

, The primary object of the invention is the pro; vision of an ear piece which is smallin size and light in weight and which is adapted to use a twister type of crystal for the purpose of actuating the diaphragm.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a' convenient'means for attaching wires to the various parts of hearing` aids so that they may be conveniently removed and replaced and 'at the same time assure positive contact.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of an ear piece actuated by -a crystal in which the response is over a greater frequency range than has generally been available in devices of this kind and size.

A still further object of the invention is `the I provision of special means for mounting the crystal and the driving mechanism for connecting the crystal to the diaphragm which permits of better response than has been available in devices of this kind in the past. A

A still further object of the invention is the provision of-devces of the class described which are simple, light in weight; efficient and conveniently shaped. I

In the drawing the device and its various parts have been shown on an enlarged scale so as to make them more readily understandable. In ac= tual production the device is made of such size as to conveniently lt the ear. It is to be underf stood, of course, that the drawing is purely illustrative and modications may be made in the structure and arrangement of the parts and the type of parts used without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as it has `been defined by the appended claims.

Referring to the drawing: v

Fig. 1 is a top plan view with the interior of the' mechanism shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is a view showing a portion of the device that tits adjacent the ear;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view-showing in detail the mounting for the crystal and the driving con- *Knection which is employed to drive the diaphragm;

Fig.I 4 is VaV view in cross section showing the interior of the mechanism;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 l of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 'I-l of Fig. 4 showing in detail the means vfor connecting the wires to the ear piece; and

Fig. 8 is a section taken on the line 8'-8 of Fig. 7.

'I'he device'` consists generally of a casing or housing II whichis generally circular in shape as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2 except that at its base it has an offset portion I2, the purpose of which will be hereinafter described.

Inorder to close the housing a screw threaded cap member I3 is provided having a central oriiice I4. Mounted within the housing isa diaphr-agmv I5, the diaphragm being preferably mounted between spacer rings I6 and I1 as shown in section in Fig. -4.

The diaphragm is driven by a twister type of crystal e1ement,`the crystal element being indicated by the reference character I8. The crystal element, being square in shape, sets very nicely into the offset portion of the housing so that Vthe driving point of the crystal elementis directly beneath the center of the diaphragm I5.

The ydiaphragm is connected to the crystal by a wire provided with several loops which are spaced apart a distance'equal to the thickness of the crystal. The loops which are indicated by l the reference characters I9 and v2l) respectively are bent towards each other so as to engage the crystal element and to lact as a'driving means -for the Vdiaphragm I5. The wire formingv the loops v I9 and 20' extends through a small opening in the diaphragm and is sealed to the diaphragm by any suitable sealing compound indicated at 2|.

The mounting for the crystal element in the receiver is of very great importance as I have -found that depending upon-the type of mounting employed the response of the device is controlled to a large extent. For the purpose of mounting the crystal I have found that the back corner 22 of the crystal which ts into the projecting portion I2 must beprovided with a certain amount of rigidity and at the same time perinch thick and I have found a suitable material for making such stiifening member is cellulose acetate. However, my tests have shown that other stiffeningmembers than cellulose acetate may be employed but it is highly desirable to provide a stiifening member of certain amount of rigidity at this point of relatively thin material.

The forward leg of the crystal 24 is not supported by any mounting means as it is this leg which actuates the driving member for the diaphragm and it is preferable that it be free to vibrate in response to electrical actuation of the crystal. The corners 25 and 26 of the crystal, or what I prefer to call the side legs of the crystal, have mounting members thereof 21 and 28 which consist of material the same as that used at the back leg 23 but without any stiffenin'g means.

In addition to the material referred to above I have also found that certain grades of cork may be employed as cork seems to have resilience but at the same time relatively slow response.` How-- ever, cork is not as satisfactory as Viscolloid because of its non-uniformity but I refer to it to designate generally the class of materials which are capable of functioning as mounting means.-

The mounting legs 21 and 28 are preferably of much smaller area than the mounting leg 23 as I have found the best response is given when these legs are relatively smaller than the leg 23.

A crystal which I have employed satisfactorily is approximately %\of an inch square and provided with a rear supporting leg approximately 332 of an inch square and side legs approximately T1; of an inch square. 'Ihe thickness of these legs is found to be most satisfactorily when they are 11g of an inch thick. 'I'his particular proportionment appears to give optimum response. It is obvious that the proportion and size of the parts would be varied somewhatwith crystals of different size.

The area of the supports and the thickness of the supports definitely affects the responsiveness of the crystal as well as does the type of material employed in constructing the supports. Having pointed out the essential characteristics to be considered, it will be apparent that with the employment of different types of materials and different sizes of crystals that with` very small experimentation the optimum areas for the supporting legs and the thickness can readily be determined by generally following the proportions indicated'.

At the opposite side of the case or housing from which is mounted the crystal I provide a pair of contacts of the crystal extend. These contacts, as is shown in Fig. 4, extend through the casing and are provided with an enlarged projecting head 33 to which the connecting member shown in Fig. 7 may be readily applied.

The connector 31 consists of a small casing 33 which is provided with a laterally projecting head 39. Mounted in the head 39 is `an insulating member '40 which is provided with keyhole shaped slots 4|, the enlarged portion of which is adapted to pass over the head 33. In back of the slots 4| 2s and so to which the ieads 3| and 32' aasaocc are contacting spring members 42 which bear toward the insulating member 40 so that when the conta-ct members 29 are slipped into the keyhole shaped slots 4| the spring members 42 bear against the head member 33 and form tight wiping contacts. Furthermore, the keyhole shaped slots have the effect of locking the connecting member onto the housing The housing is preferably provided with a depressed portion 43 shaped as shown in Fig. 1 to receive the connecting member. The employment of a twisted type of crystal element which can be partially mounted in the projection in the bottom of the case with its driving point at the center of the case permits depression of the case at the top to provide space for the connecting element, 'This is a feature of considerable importance in obtaining compactness.

Attached to the contacting springs 42 is a pair of lead wires which are brought together in a common flexible sheath or cable 44. The sheath 44 tends to hold the wires together and prevent themfrom being pulled out at the connections. Furthermore, being flexible, the end which projects beyond the casing member prevents a short turn or twist being made in the lead wires at that point, thereby preventing breakage of the lead wires.

It is to be noted that the design of the case is such that it permits the emploment of a twister type of crystal element, which element gives greater driving force than the bender type of crystal which is normally employed in devices of this kind and due to the projection |2 the diameter of the case may be kept at a minimum but still adequate room is provided for all the mechanism. 'Ihe device is very light and will fit very nicely into the ear, the projection or tapered portion of the case |2 tting adjacent the tragus portions of the ear.

I have found that a device constructed in accordance with my invention-has a more'nearly level frequency response over a wider frequency range than has been obtained in devices heretofore constructed for this purpose. Furthermore, due to the particular casing construction I have discovered that it is possible to use the twister type of crystal element and at the same time keep the size of the device to a minimum.

'I'he connecting means disclosed is compact and overcomes a source of dilculty with these devices that has been very annoying. In the past, difliculty has been had with the breakage of the connecting wires. With my device the ends r of the wires are protected and breakage is reduced to a minimum. Furthermore, disassembly of the wire connection from the device is conveniently and easily accomplished. At the same time the weight and size of the connection has been kept to a minimum.

'Ihe elongated shell of the connecting device causes the force of a pull on the cord to be directed to the bottom of the ear piece with the result that pulling on the cord does not tend to pull l the ear piece out of the ear as would be the case if the force' were applied near the center or top of the case.

The connecting means, consisting of the keyshaped slot members, is to be described in detail and claimed in an application for patent to be filed by W. E. Schauers who invented the same.

I claim: a l. In a device of the class described, a diatype crystal driving element vfor mounting said driving element, one of said` leg members being larger than any other leg, the leg of the largest area being positioned opposite the driving portion of said crystal element, stiiening means for said leg member of largest area, a diaphragm, and means for connecting the driving portion of said crystal element to said diaphragm.

2. In adevice of the class described,'a casing, a diaphragm mounted in said casing, a driving element for said diaphragm having a driving portion, said driving element being polygonal in shape and having a corner thereof substantially opposite said driving portion, means for connecting said unmounted cornerlto said diaphragm,

mounting means for said driving element connected at other corners thereof, said mounting means consisting of leg members formed of resilientmaterial and means for stiilening atleast one of said mounting members at the outside edge thereof and at a point substantially opposite from the driving portion of said driving element.

3. In a device of the class described, a casing, a diaphragm mounted in said casing, a twister type crystal element for driving said diaphragm having four corners, one corner of said driving element being connected to said diaphragm to drive the same, means for mounting said crystal element, said means comprising a leg formed of resilient material opposite said corner connected to said diaphragm, stiiening means for a portion of said leg, and side legs of lesser area than said rst mentioned leg mounted at the other corners of said crystal element.

4. In a device of the character described', a casing substantially circular in shape, a radial offset portion in said casing adapted to iit between the tragus portions of the ear, the back of said oiset portion being ilush with the major portion of the back of said casing, a diaphragm mounted in said casing, a twister type crystal ing means consisting of legs having a relatively slow resiliency response and a stiifening member engaging said crystal element and passing over at least one edge of one of said leg members.

6. In a device of the class described, a casing, a diaphragm mounted in said casing, a twister type crystal element connected adjacent its frontl end to said diaphragm for driving the same,

. A means for supporting said element in said casing,

said supporting means consisting of legs having a relatively slow resiliency response, said legs comprising side legs and a rear.leg, said side legs being of substantially less area than said rear leg, and means for stiffening said rear leg.

'7. In a device of the class described, a casing, a diaphragm mounted in said casing, a twister type crystal element connected to said diaphragm for driving the same, means for supporting said element in said casing, said supporting means consisting of side legs` and a back leg having a relatively slow resiliency response, said legs being in substantially the following proportion in relation ,to said crystal member, saidlegs being approximately of an inch thick, said side legs being approximately of an inch square and said rear leg being approximately of an inch square.

8. A device of the class described, a casing, a

- twister type of crystal element mounted in said driving element projecting into the onset portion in said casing and having the driving portion thereof opposite said diaphragm, means for connecting said diaphragm to the driving portion of said crystal element, and means for supporting said crystal element in said casing.

5; In a device of the character described, a substantially circular shaped casing, a radial offset portion in said casing adapted to nt against vthe tragus portions of the ear, the back of said offset portion being ilush with the back of the major portion of said casing, a diaphragm mounted in said casing, a twister type crystal driving element projecting into the offset portion casing, means for supporting said crystal type driving element having substantially the same resiliency characteristics as a highly Plasticized cellulose nitrate plastic having a relatively slow response, said means comprising a leg mounted at one end of said crystal and legs mounted at the sides of said crystal, the area of said end being slightly in excess of twice the area of one of said side legs.

9. A device of the class described, a casing.

substantially circular in shape and provided with a hollow radially projecting portion adapted to t between the tragus portions of the ear, said casing having a depressed portion opposite the projecting portion, connecting means mounted in said depressed portion, a twister type cmtal driving element having a portion thereof mounted in the projecting portion of said case and the driving portion thereof at substantially the center of said case.

HUGO .G. MODINE.

, CERTIFICATE '0F cpRREcTIoN. u

Patent No. 2,281.4.,065. Hay 26, 1.914,2. HUGo'G. nomma.

It is hereby certified that error "appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring oorreotionasfollows: Page 2, seoeolumn,` line La, claim 8, after "and" insert --1eg; and um: the in Letters Patent should -be read with this correction therein that the same may oontjorm to the'record of the case in the-Patentofrice.

signed and seeded-mis '111mm da; of July, A. D.-*19lp2.

Henry van 1x1-saule', (Seal) Acting Commissioner o`f Patents;

CERTIFICATE 'oF c oRREcTioN. n l Payant No. 2,28lbo65. I Har 26. 19h2. HUGoe. nomma.

It is hereby certified that error ppears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent r'equ1 r 1ng oorrectlonasffollows: PageA 2, secco1mn'n,` 11n@ 1p1, claim 8, after "'ed" insert 1eg; and um: the um ALetters Patent should -be i'ead with 7th-ie correction therein that the' same may conform to the'record of the case lLn the-Patent'office.

signed and sealed'gn'is l11mm dey ef July, A. D.'19h2. t

'Henry' van Arsdele; (Seal) ActingV Commissioner o'f Patents;4 

